Rain
by Ocean Starfly
Summary: Allen and Lenalee are on a mission to check out some akuma sightings. But things don't go exactly as planned while the rain falls. Another fail attempt at fluff.


The sound of rain was all Lenalee could hear. Her eyes fluttered and blinked open. She stared in confusion. All she could see was black, but she could feel that she was being carried by someone. In only a moment, the memories came to her awakening mind. She had been sent on a mission with Allen to check out some akuma sightings and had ended up battling a horde of them.

"Allen-kun?!" The dark-haired exorcist pulled at the cloth covering her, protecting her from the rain. She blinked as the falling water suddenly splashed on her face.

"Lenalee, you're awake!" The girl looked up into Allen's face. He was completely soaked, his clothes and hair sticking to his skin. His exorcist coat, which was waterproof and would have kept the rain off, had instead been laid over her.

"I'm fine," Lenalee assured him quickly. "But, are you all right? Allen-kun." He nodded in reply, but Lenalee couldn't help but notice that something wasn't right. But before she could say anything, Allen said, "Hold on, I think I can see shelter up ahead."

The white-haired teen stepped gratefully into the cave, out of the heavy rain. He set Lenalee down gently and she immediately twisted, grabbing his arm.

Allen made a faint protest as the girl pushed his sleeve back and inspected his left arm. "Your Innocence seems fine…" she muttered before spotting the red stains on his shirt. "You're hurt!" she exclaimed.

"It's nothing. I'm fine, really!" However, the yelp he let out when Lenalee poked the deepest wound dissipated his words' credibility.

Staring at the wound, Lenalee felt guilt wash over here. She wasn't nearly as injured as Allen, and yet because some stupid akuma had knocked her out, he had had to carry her for who knows how far. How could she have made her precious companion do so much?

She opened the pack Allen had set down and pulled out the First Aid equipment.

"Hold still," she ordered, pushing Allen's shirt up to get at his wounds. He complied quietly; he was used to this by now. But her worried gaze caused the same emotion to be reflected on Allen's face.

"I'll look for some firewood," the female exorcist decided, standing up when she had finished. However, a tug on her arm pulled her gently back to the ground beside Allen.

"You're injured too," was his only reply as he pulled out what was left of the roll of bandages Lenalee had just used on him and started to clean the wound on her head. Once he had finished, she touched the bandages lightly. Her face said it all, but she kept it turned away from the other exorcist, not letting him see as she stood once again.

"W-wait, Lenalee-" Allen began, standing as well. But he had to grab the wall awkwardly as he stumbled.

"You hurt your leg too!" Lenalee cried, feeling even more wretched. "Stay here, I'll be right back!" Lenalee forced the other teen back onto the floor. And with that she left.

Allen stared after the place where the girl had disappeared into the rain. Lenalee is so kind. Allen thought. She worries about others so much… Allen's vision became blurry and his eyelids felt heavy. Why is it so hot…? He could feel sweat beading on him beneath the rainwater. Weakening arms could no longer support the teen as he slumped against the wall.

It wasn't long before Lenalee returned with firewood. "I've got the firewood Allen," she said, sparking a blaze that made dancing light upon the walls and floor of the cave.

The dark-haired teen looked over at her companion. "Allen…?" She stepped forward, kneeling next to the slumped form. She shook his shoulder slightly, and when that garnered no response she assumed he had fallen asleep. He must have been exhausted, she thought. She lifted her hand to his forehead to brush some of the hair out of his face. She gasped at the incredible heat.

"What a horrible fever!" she murmured, renewed feelings of guilt washing over her as she pressed her hand to the heated skin. Lenalee hesitated, deciding what to do. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, they burned with determination.

First, she unbuttoned the teen's shirt, and pulled the soaking cloth off of him, hanging it on a rock near the fire to dry. Next, she pulled some bandages out of her pack and bound the wounds on his leg.

Then she pulled Allen over to the fire, laying him down next to it, and using her own legs as a pillow for the sick and injured exorcist.

Outside, the rain poured down heavily, creeping over the earth as it fell from the dark, thunderous sky.

Lenalee watched over Allen as the night dragged on. The rain made it impossible to judge the passage of time. After a while, the female exorcist dozed off, worry still etched on her features.

The sound of splashing woke the dark-haired girl. She blinked open her eyes, feeling stiff from the odd sleeping position. It was darker than before; the fire had gone out, without leaving even a glowing ember. Lenalee reached over Allen's still unconscious form, and felt for the firewood. Cold water met her fingers.

Gasping, Lenalee felt around. Water had started flooding the cave, and it nearly reached the two exorcists. Carefully moving Allen's head, Lenalee stood up and grabbed Allen's shirt and coat, which were luckily still high and dry. Then she returned to Allen, hefted one of his arms over her shoulders and staggered to her feet. There was no way out of the cave, and besides, Allen was still sick and the rain was still pouring. So the girl slowly made her way farther into the cave, tripping occasionally over rocks or running into walls in the darkness.

Soon, the exorcist felt the ground slope downwards. She paid little attention to it, until it dipped suddenly. Her foot slid down the sudden, steep incline, and she let out a scream as she fell through the darkness. The teenage exorcist tumbled past rock after rock, still fervently holding onto her companion.

When she reached the bottom with a heavy thud, Lenalee let out a painful groan. She moved herself carefully out from underneath Allen, who had fallen partially on top of her, and checked over herself for injuries. Plenty of bruises and a few cuts, but nothing seemed broken. Lighting a match so she could see, she swept her gaze over their surroundings before quickly moving over to Allen. The dark-haired girl sighed with relief when she saw that he was no worse.

"Lenalee...?" Allen's eyes blinked open and he pushed himself up. "Where... What happened?"

"The cave is flooding, so I brought us farther in. I fell down here," Lenalee replied.

"Oh… Eh?" Allen jumped slightly as the other exorcists placed her hand on his forehead.

"Hold still. You have a fever."

Allen held still while she checked over his injuries again but asked, "How's your head?"

"Fine," she replied lightly, holding back a wince. Thinking about it had reminded her of the pain. It had been throbbing while she was looking for firewood, and had only dulled as she slept only to return with their fall. To distract herself she asked, "What are we going to do?"

At the same moment, a trickle of water reached the two teenagers, pouring down from where Lenalee had slipped and the match Lenalee was holding burned low enough to begin burning her fingers. She let out the softest pained cry and dropped it, extinguishing the tiny light and effectively engulfing them in darkness.

"Exactly how hard is it raining?" Allen exclaimed. Lenalee had no answer and so the two sat for a minute while their eyes adjusted to the lack of lighting.

"We should keep moving," Allen suggested. "Maybe there's an exit somewhere farther in."

Lenalee nodded, remembered he couldn't see her, and repeated her agreement aloud. She helped him stand before he waved her off, saying he could walk on his own, while silently thanking the darkness for hiding the tell-tale signs of pain and limping.

They didn't make it far before they both ran smack into a wall. "Ow…!" rang out from the two nearly simultaneously.

"Oh no..." Allen and Lenalee started feeling along the wall they had encountered. It curved worrying slowly and after nearly 40 minutes of shuffling the two exorcists met back at the trickle of water. They each felt a trail of sweat slide down their faces.

"Don't tell me..."

"Are we..."

They finished simultaneously, "trapped."

The teens slid to the floor. "What are we going to do now??" Lenalee contemplated using her Innocence to leap out carrying Allen with her, but the walls were to far apart to bounce from one to another, and they had no idea how deep the pit was or if there were any ledges she could jump up to that would be large enough and strong enough to hold the two of them. She couldn't leave Allen behind either; if only they at least had a rope to use.

"We're going to have to find a way to climb out of here. Maybe there are some foot- and handholds somewhere," said Allen. He started to stand up to check, but his injured leg couldn't support his weight. The white-haired boy toppled back and to the side, halfway catching himself on the wall, while the other half bumped into Lenalee.

"Ah, gomen nasai!" Allen quickly bounced off the Chinese girl, who moved to stand up next to him.

She tugged on his arm and demanded, "You sit still. I'll look for a way out."

"But..." Although he couldn't see, Allen could feel the girl's eyes on him and deflated. At least it wasn't like she was doing anything dangerous, she was just searching for a way to escape; Allen berated himself for not remembering that Lenalee was an exorcist in her own right.

Lenalee moved agonizingly slowly along the wall, feeling over every bit of the cold stone she could reach. Most of the crevices and projections she discovered were vertical or too small to provide good hand- or footholds. Others were too far apart to reach at the same time. Once or twice Lenalee tried scaling a little ways up the walls, but they didn't get her very far. Finally, about three quarters of the way back around to Allen, Lenalee found a promising series of cracks and protrusions.

"Allen, I think I found a way out!" she cried out to him happily.

"That's great! Hang on, I'll come over so you don't lose the spot."

The Chinese girl could hear Allen's shuffling movements as he stood and then his steps as he made his way towards her. She reached out and found his hand stretched out to meet hers; she smiled as she tugged lightly to bring him over.

Remembering his injuries, Lenalee questioned his condition.

"I'm fine," Allen attempted to wave her worry away.

"Do you think you'll be able to make it up with your leg, though?"

Allen pondered a moment. Truthfully, his leg was likely in no condition to be climbing a cave wall out of a pit. But there weren't really any other options, so he figured he could manage it and told Lenalee so. He could practically feel her lingering concern in the air, but she didn't argue.

"Okay… Let me go up first to make sure it goes all the way up. You rest down here," she added firmly. The white-haired exorcist consented and Lenalee started up the wall.

The going wasn't easy, but it wasn't terribly difficult either. The rough stone chaffed her pale fingers as the girl gripped at the lesions and uneven sections of the wall, pulling herself up. Hand over hand she felt around for hand-holds, trying to remember their locations so that she could then use them for foot-holds.

It took a surprisingly short amount of time for the Chinese girl to reach the top. The wall could only be about 6 meters high.

She called down towards her partner, "Allen-kun."

"Did you reach the top?" His voice floated back to her.

"Un. Do you think you can make it up 6 meters?"

"I think so. Hold on…" Silence commenced and Lenalee assumed that he was making his way up the cliff. Without much to do, she sat down, peering over the edge for Allen. She ignored the roughness of the ground, though she did brush away the small rocks jutting into her skin. Eventually, she could make out Allen's white hair through the gloom.

The young exorcist pulled himself over the ledge with a grunt before flopping down next to Lenalee.

"Daijobu ka, Allen-kun?"

He was panting heavily, but nodded.

Something sticky oozed into Lenalee's fingers. She lifted her hand and sniffed the liquid curiously: it smelled like copper. "Ah! You're wounds are opening!"

"Eh? Oh, I hadn't even noticed," Allen replied, just getting his breath back. Lenalee shifted hurriedly to get the pack with the first aid supplies in it, but in the darkness she bumped into it with her knee when she twisted. It tipped delicately, hesitated, and then fell over the brim of the pit.

"Oh no!" Lenalee lunged towards it on instinct, but Allen grabbed her with a strangled cry. "Lenalee! The ledge!"

The girl gulped and pulled back quickly into Allen. "Gomen…"

She had a predicament now. She could feel Allen's biggest wound bleeding, but she had nothing to bind it with. Slim fingers clutched at her skirt helplessly.

Allen frowned, sensing Lenalee's distress. It was a pretty bad sign that the wound was still bleeding, and they both knew it.

An idea clicked in the red-handed boy's mind and he lifted his white shirt from the pile of his clothes that Lenalee had stripped him of to dry and carried with them so far. Soft hair brushed his arm as Lenalee turned at the sound of ripping fabric. Deftly, he tore several strips from the shirt and began applying them to his wound. "This will work just fine as bandages," he explained.

"Un…" Lenalee pulled them from his fingers and began winding them around his torso, pressing them gently to the large gash.

Allen said gratefully, "Arigatou," as she wound them one more time before tucking the loose end in. Lenalee stared at the bandages, at once thankful for his gratitude and unhappy that he was still so… not upset: at her, at their situation, at the gaping hole in his abdomen.

"It hurts, but I'll be fine. All wounds heal eventually, Lenalee."

Lenalee jerked her head up at the words, incredulous that he had seemingly read her mind. With another jolt she realized that she had not taken her hand away from his body, her fingers lightly tracing the injury through the bandages.

"…. Un," Lenalee paused before answering, a small smile gracing her lips as she bobbed her head.

After another minute of rest, they moved on and picked their way out of the cave. It turned out that there was another exit not far from them, which was why there had been light just enough to see by when they climbed out of the pit. They squinted and blinked at the bright sunlight when they stepped out. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining strongly, making everything glitter with the reflections on leftover raindrops and camouflaging Timcampy until he smacked into Allen's head.

Allen yelped as the golem ran into him. "Ow, Tim!"

"----! -----!" A far-off cry made the two exorcists perk up and look out over the field scattered with rocks before them. A few figures could be seen running towards them. Soon, they became close enough to hear.

"Lenalee~! Allen!" Lavi glomped the two teens as the Finders with him struggled to catch up. "What happened to you guys? We found the massacre of akuma you left, but there was no sign of you guys."

"Gomen nasai," Allen spoke up. "We had to find shelter from that rain, and we didn't know of any close by civilizations. We sheltered in a cave but got flooded in."

Lenalee added, "We only just found the way out."

"By the way, how did you find us? We came out a different way than we came in…"

"Ah, that was Tim!" Lavi said, grinning. "He was able to track you guys down. He's like a bloodhound!"

Allen glanced up at the golden golem now nestled in his hair and smiled. "Thanks, Tim!"

"By the way, Allen, why are you shirtless? Eh~? 3"

Allen and Lenalee flushed at the junior Bookman's tone. "I-it's nothing! We had to use it as bandages!"

"Uh-huh~."

"Urgh, Lavi!" Lenalee swatted the man. He just laughed it off.

"Come on, let's get home!"

The British and Chinese exorcists nodded, shared a smile, and followed the bouncing ginger-head to meet the Finders. Timcampy sat on Allen's head, shining like the raindrops soaking the earth.

* * *

Urgh, crappy ending, I'm sorry. This is my fail attempt at fluff. I cannot write fluff, why do I keep trying? Anyway, I started this a long, long time ago, stopped, and picked it up again recently. I struggled for a few (several) days to finish it; it feels like it just sort of drags on though. . So, click that little button down there and let me know what you think, m'kay?

Notes:

Gomen nasai: I'm sorry

Daijobu - Are you okay?

Arigatou - Thank you

That 3 in Lavi's speech is supposed to be a typed heart, but it won't show the point for some reason.

Edit: Thanks to BloodCoveredKisses for pointing out that Lenalee could have used her Innocence to jump out carrying Allen (and also for being my first reviewer). I adjusted one sentence and added a paragraph to fix it so that it makes more sense. Cheers and a cookie to BloodCoveredKisses!


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